Live Forever, Die Tomorrow
by Virgo Writer
Summary: Kaho is dying and she has only one wish for Touya - that he be happy even when she's gone. But who could take her place in his heart? Who could make him smile through the toughest times he has ahead and make him want to love again? TN No magic
1. Time

DISCLAIMER: I do not own CCS.

Kaho has been diagnosed with a heart condition and she has only one wish for Touya who she must leave behind – that he be happy even when she's gone. But who could take her place in his heart. Who could make him smile through the toughest times he has ahead and make him want to love again when everything tells him to hang up his hat and die.

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow." ~ James Dean.

Live Forever, Die Tomorrow - Time

Touya Kinomoto sat in the waiting room thinking back to how it had all started, how he had gotten to this point in his life. How could he be sitting here in a hospital hoping something would happen to him? Willing to sacrifice his unborn son for just a few more years with her?

It all started so many years ago in an unexpected way, meeting Kaho when she was his student teacher of all things, in his last year of middle school. He had fallen hard, he had fallen fast, and then she was gone and he was heart broken.

But then she came back. When she left she had said that he shouldn't be sad, because she wasn't meant to be his 'one true love', but neither of them had believed it. And when she returned it was as though she had never left. The two of them had picked off where they left off; only both of them were older and wiser for the time apart.

Touya was much more cautious with his heart, unconsciously holding a little bit back for a rainy day. Something inside told him that she would leave him, one day, and that he would need that piece if he really wanted to go on without her. So he saved that piece of him, and Kaho would never know.

They got married – a simple ceremony in spite of Tomoyo and Sakura's attempts to make it as huge and extravagant as possible. He was nineteen when he married Kaho, his senior by nine years. Many said he was too young, but now he only wished that he had married her sooner; his only regret was every moment they ever spent apart.

His time was limited now. He never realised that their time together had such a short expiry date, but he could sense the end looming in the distance.

The problem first started eight months ago, when Kaho got pregnant. Really it was more like six months ago, because the first two months of the pregnancy were fine; perfect even. They were both so happy; they were going to start a family and it felt like nothing could possibly bring them down.

But then, round about the two month mark, Kaho was teaching and she fainted in the middle of her lesson for no reason. They both thought it would be fine – Kaho hadn't been keeping much food down so they just assumed it was low blood sugar, but they went to the doctor to see what he had to say about things. Kaho had a heart condition and before them stood a man in a white coat telling them that he strongly recommended they terminate the pregnancy as soon as possible before any further complications occurred.

They argued about it for weeks. Kaho refused point blank. She valued a child's life above her own. Her high moral standards insisted that the life of a child was more precious than anything else – she had lived a life. She had loved, she had lost, she had done everything she had set out to do in her life; but a child hadn't had the opportunity to live.

Touya was selfish. He knew he was selfish, but he wasn't ready to lose her and he told her that in no uncertain terms. If there was something he could do to keep her with him forever, he would do it.

But Kaho won, and that was why they were there.

"Mr. Kinomoto?" the doctor questioned as he walked into the waiting room. He had obviously changed, but still smelt faintly of blood. That was not encouraging.

Touya nodded, and walked up to question the doctor.

He looked sorrowful. "I'm so sorry Mr. Kinomoto," the doctor intoned, "we lost the baby."

Touya froze. He wasn't sure what to feel anymore. He felt guilty for his previous thoughts, but his anxiety over the other patient seemed to quell that for now. _'They lost the baby?'_ he thought to himself. _'But what about Kaho?'_

"There was nothing we could do," the doctor continued, misunderstanding the look on Touya's face. "It was going to kill the both of them so we had to terminate the foetus," he said in a very clinical way. "You're wife is in recovery."

"C-can I see her?" Touya asked, a rush of relief running through him.

The doctor nodded as he led Touya to Kaho's room. "There were a few things we discovered during the surgery," the doctor said uncertainly as he opened the door, "but I'll come talk to you later when you're both feeling more up to it."

Touya just nodded as he moved to his wife's side. He sighed as he took hold of her hand. "Kaho," he whispered sadly. "I know how much you wanted this, but if it means having you in my life, then it's a pain we must both endure."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, her eyes closed. "I should have . . ."

"It's ok," he replied. "Just sleep. We'll talk about it tomorrow. We have more time then we expected."

"Tomorrow . . ."

~*©*~

"Mr and Mrs. Kinomoto," the doctor said slowly, looking at them both from behind his desk.

Touya recognised that look. It was the same look the first doctor had given them when he told them to abort the baby. It was a sort of mixture of pity, and anguish – like the doctor's own heart was breaking. Not for them of course – don't misuderstand me here, because he was a man of medicine first a foremost, and science and medicine and everything he believed in had turned his back on them. His anguish was for science, because science had failed once again.

Touya couldn't understand. There couldn't be anymore bad news. His wife was dying and he had just lost his son – what could be worse than that?

The doctor took a deep breath as h shuffled papers on his desk. "The, uh, surgery yesterday," he said vaguely, dancing around the point he was trying to make, "it revealed that your . . . condition, Mrs. Kinomoto, is far more serious than anticipated. We've put you on the list," he said allusively, "and you'll have to wear this pager wherever you go."

He pushed the pager across the desk and met Touya's eye briefly.

_'This is it,'_ Touya thought to himself. _'This is the bit where he tells us how much time we have?'_

"As I'm sure you're both aware," the doctor said, looking down at his paper's once again, "your blood type is O negative - it is quite rare so the chances of a replacement heart are quite slim, but due to our discoveries you have been placed at the top of the list." He coughed, as though to force the next words out of his throat before continuing, "I'm sorry to say this, but without a replacement heart, your chances are very slim."

"How slim?" Kaho asked, not even crying. She looked at him determinedly as she held tightly onto Touya's hand. "How long do we have?"

The doctor took another deep breath. "Six months," he replied slowly and agonisingly. "Maybe less, maybe more . . . but probably less."

Kaho gasped and dropped Touya's hand.

"I'll leave you two alone," the doctor said awkwardly, "there are some pamphlets on the back wall if it helps," he offered pathetically as he swiftly exited the office.

"Six months," Kaho repeated, her eyes unfocused as she tried to analyze the words.

"Maybe more," Touya told her, sounding sure and optimistic.

"Probably less," she replied, her voice low and unfeeling.

"We've still got options," Touya rallied, still optimistic. "We could go get a second opinion, see a specialist, maybe even a naturopath. There are alternatives. We still have time."

"Time," she replied shaking her head, "is the one thing we don't have."

~ to be continued ~

I suspect that this may just be the absolute strangest way to start a TouyaxNakuru fic, but this is how I'm starting it. I know I'm taking a rather extreme position in killing off the competition (not the main competition, but competition all the same), but I swear it's a plot device and nothing more. So if you're gonna flame me, let it be for something else because the story doesn't work as well if she's not dying.

Sorry if this chapter seems a bit rushed or awkward - the first few chapters are really just setting the scene so they aren't high action or drama. Please review.


	2. Proposition

My apologies to anyone who thought this was a TouyaxKaho fic - probably my own fault for only mentioning those two in the summary although I do think that it makes it quite obvious that those two aren't going to end up together so this apology probably goes more to TouyaxYukito fans rather than TouyaxKaho, and maybe to TouyaxTomoyo (cos that's kind of cute, but I find it a little creepy because of the fact that Tomoyo's supposed to look like Nadeshiko) and I guess those are really the main ones. This probably very easily have gone in any of those directions, but TouyaxNakuru has always been my favourite so that's the way I've decided to go.

Anyways, I suppose I should get on with the story now . . .

DISCLAIMER: I don't own CCS - if I did then Touya and Nakuru would be cannon, actually I suspect that it would probably be a three-way cannon cos I read something that was actually kind of cute the other day with Touya, Nakuru and Yukito (in a totally PG way) which got me thinking (in a totally PG way) . . .

Live Forever, Die Tomorrow – Proposition

Kaho sighed as her husband helped her up the stairs. She hated when he tried to look after her like this. He was being far too cautious for her sake, and she hated it.

"We can't not talk about this," she said a she swatted his hand away from the bag she was holding. She didn't care if she was dying; she was not so infirm that she couldn't carry her own bags from the car to the front door.

"Talk about what?" Touya asked innocently with a forced smile as he opened the door.

"Talk about the fact that I'm going to die," Kaho said abruptly. She watched him stiffen at the words. She knew she shouldn't have said it so coolly, but it was the only way to get through to the boy sometimes.

"I- I don't want to," Touya struggled to reply.

The smile fell off his face, and it was the most real he had looked in days. That alone was a comfort to Kaho even though the look on his face was so devastatingly haggard. At least now he was being honest instead of trying to micromanage and hide from what was happening to her.

"I know that, but we can't not talk about it," Kaho repeated. "I've thought about it for these last couple of days and I've made a decision."

Touya sighed. He knew she was thinking about something. All the time at the hospital she had looked so pensive, and part of him had been dreading this moment when she finally told him what was going on in her head.

"I've decided we can't just go on like this, as though nothing has changed," she explained looking very serious. "I mean, things have obviously changed and it's something we've all got to come to terms with.

"We always thought that we had time, and now it's quite apparent that we don't," she continued. "I've got six months to live Touya, and I want the last of our time together to be exciting and memorable."

Touya tried to interject, but she cut him off before he could even get the words out.

"I know what you're going to say, and I don't want to hear it," she said sternly. "You know exactly what I mean Touya; I want us to do the things that we've always wanted to do but always put off. So I'm going to make a list and you're going to make a list, and together we're going to do all the things on those lists."

"What if I don't like what's on your list?" he asked, suspicious as to her determination on the topic.

"Well that's just too bad then," Kaho said with an ironic smile, "because I'm the one who's dying and so you have to do what I tell you and that's that."

"So what do I do?" Touya sighed, as he pulled out two pads of paper and two pens to accompany them. The look on her face told him he wasn't getting out of this.

"You have twenty minutes to write down all the things you want to do before you die," Kaho told him. "And I expect at least ten."

They sat side by side as they made their lists. Touya tried his best to think of things abstractly, as though they were still things he planned to do in the distant future, rather than something that had to be accomplished in his wife's limited life span.

"Ok," Kaho said as she watched the hands on the clock move. "Time to reveal. What's on your list?"

Touya looked down at his list, thoughtfully, the items suddenly losing their abstract quality.

"I want to learn the drums," Touya said, continuing when he noticed the curious look on Kaho's face that suggested that he would have to explain himself. "I always wanted to learn an instrument and I guess I always thought that drums were cool."

"Alright, next."

"Aren't you going to read anything off your list?" he asked, feeling annoyed. She just shook his head and he was forced to continue his list. "I want to travel to somewhere as far away from Japan as you could possibly get just so I could say that I've been to the other side of the world and made it back."

"I want to see Sakura get married," he said, his voice becoming soft at the thought of his little sister. "Even if it is to that gaki, Syaoran."

Kaho smiled a soft, unassuming smile. "That was sweet Touya."

He blushed slightly. "You can't tell anyone I said that," he warned her, "especially not Sakura." Kaho just smiled, and he knew his secret was safe. He continued, "I'd like to go back to university and continue in my study. I'd like to get a degree in something with absolutely no practical value in the real world; something like astrophysics so I could study purely for the sake of studying."

"I'd like to go sky diving, gliding or bungy jump or something just for the heck of it."

"I want to go to the tallest point on earth, and then back down to the lowest to see if you could tell the difference."

"I want to watch every James Bond movie ever made one after the other – even ones I've never heard of. I want to go snorkelling – it's always been something that I've wanted to do, but I never got the chance."

"I want to learn to do something that nobody else can do, or only a few people can do, even if I suck at it for the rest of my life. And I want to run a marathon," he said after a little thought. "And if at all possible, it would be especially awesome to be the first man on mars."

"Anything else?" Kaho asked.

"To write a book about absolutely nothing," he offered with a shrug. "Learn Italian for no apparently useful reason. Go see an opera, which I guess if I do them in that order the Italian would be useful. Drive a race car. I think that's it.

"What's on your list?" he added looking at Kaho inquisitively.

Kaho smiled a mysterious smile. "To see you happy," she said softly. "I want you to find love again Touya, and I want to see you happy even when I'm gone."

"I promise," he said softly, taking her hand in his.

"I know you promise," she said slowly, "but I know you Touya. I know you'll be so sad you won't be able to and when you're finally not sad and ready to move on, you'll feel too guilty to do anything and you'll end up alone forever . . ."

She trailed off for a moment, but continued when neither of them said anything. "I don't want you to be sad for me Touya," she continued, "and I don't want you to be alone. I want you to find someone now, and I want you to promise me," she said sadly.

"I can't," he replied, his sorrow evident on his face. "I won't."

"You have to," Kaho replied. "You promised . . ."

"But Kaho . . ."

"I'm dying . . ."

~ to be continued ~

Well that's a very useful way to put an end to any argument - you can't argue with 'I'm dying'. Again I shall reiterate my position - NOT A TOUYAxKAHO FIC. I just don't want anybody getting into it, and then getting all mad at me when the other woman appears and steals him away from Kaho - although Kaho is practically giving him away. Sorry about the shortness of this one.

I suspect that there is some OOC-ness in this so I'm going to apologise in advance for this.

Please review in spite of this. Thanks to everyone who reviewed thus far, and thanks for adding me to your favourites.


	3. The One

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT. Although not for anything too important, but I just thought I should warn everybody that this chapter gives away quite a bit about 'Animal Farm' in case anybody was in the midst of reading it.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own CCS or any of their characters. I don't own 'Animal Farm' or '1984' which are both books by George Orwell which are very excellent and you should all go out a read them.

So this chapter is perhaps a little less morbid as it is time to interest 'the other woman'. And so we begin . . .

Live Forever, Die Tomorrow – The One

"I just want you to know," Yukito said candidly, "that I agree with your overall purpose, but I do not agree one bit with your methods."

"What's wrong with my methods?" Kaho asked as she sat herself down at their table in the busy café.

"You're essentially asking my best friend to go through the process of finding himself a new wife, while the old one is still around and . . . you know . . . dying," Yukito replied. It was one of the rare moments when he raised his voice to someone, and thus Kaho knew the significance.

He sighed as he took a seat next to her. "I get that you don't want Touya to be alone," Yukito sighed, "but I just don't think this is the way to go about it. He'll have me and Sakura-chan, and Tomoyo-chan. He won't be alone."

"What about when Sakura-chan and Tomoyo-chan go off to college next year?" Kaho replied, looking very serious. "What about when they get married? Syaoran's not going to be able to stay in Japan forever – he has a corporation to run – and Sakura-chan will follow him to the ends of the earth. And Tomoyo-chan? She'll probably be travelling non-stop – New York one day, Milan the next. He'll barely see her. And you Yukito-san? Even you'll find somebody and then you'll have no time for Touya.

"And then he'll be alone," Kaho finished sadly. "And that's not even the thing that worries me the most. I'm worried that he's going to be unhappy for the rest of his life, and that's why I'm doing this. If I have to die, I want to know that Touya will be happy."

"But you don't need to do this, do you?" Yukito asked. "Do you really think that some girl could be the key to his happiness?"

"I don't know," Kaho replied tiredly. "I just know that he's going to need someone in his life to make him smile. That's why I went through with the pregnancy," she added sadly, "but clearly the universe has other plans."

Yukito shook his head. "Let's pretend that everything up to this point makes perfect sense," he began. "A classified ad? Touya is going to kill you when he finds out."

"He won't," Kaho replied. "He never has to know."

"Look," she said as she pointed towards the door where a girl walked in holding a copy of 'Animal Farm' in a very obvious way. "I think we have our first applicant," she smiled as she waved the girl over.

"Hi," the girl said politely, as she placed the book down on the table, "you guys must be Kaho-san and Yukito-san. My name is Chiharu."

"Nice to meet you," Kaho replied as she shook the girls hand.

"Did you enjoy the book?" Yukito asked, indicating what had been the agreed upon signal.

Chiharu shook her head. "The talking animals kind of weirded me out," she replied, "and my cousin Yamazaki kept asking me where I was up to and spurting out random facts about all the Russian Revolution and Marxism that I'm pretty sure weren't true."

"Oh," Kaho replied quietly, her brow furrowing in concentration. "Why don't you tell us some things about yourself?" she said, forcing a smile.

She and Yukito shared a brief look as Chiharu told them about herself. Chiharu was 19, just starting university – a degree in English. She wanted to be a teacher, which Kaho thought was encouraging. She was an excellent cook, and baked as a hobby, which Yukito thought was a definite plus.

But she had failed the first hurdle. Kaho believed that you could tell everything about a person in just one question. 'Animal Farm' was pretty much Touya's all-time favourite book – Kaho herself was particularly fond of it too. He loved the symbolism. He loved the way the animals had been used to portray the different players in Russia's history. He loved the conflict between the humans and animals. He loved how Orwell was able to portray Marxism for exactly what it was – a great idea, but nearly impossible to put into practice.

The book was an absolute truism to him: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Chiharu had thought it was weird and had not enjoyed it.

Kaho smiled tightly as she said goodbye to Chiharu. Those two would have nothing in common. How could two people work when they held such opposing opinions on a very significant book?

The next girl came. She had liked the book, but for the wrong reasons. She thought it was cute, but hadn't understood any of the stuff about Marx. She just liked the talking animals.

Another thought that they had overly romanticised Communism and that it was an affront to democracies everywhere. They didn't ask her any further questions.

Another hadn't realised she was supposed to read the book. Two others had tried to find the movie and explained they hadn't read a book since they were 12.

Another read the book ages ago for high school and couldn't remember any of the details, but insisted that she loved it.

Another insisted the book was really about the power of love to overcome insurmountable obstacles. Three others had pretended to read it when it was quite obvious they had just googled it and were giving her the cliff notes version.

And as another girl sat before them telling her that 'Animal Farm' was a blight upon Orwell's entire body of work, something else caught Kaho's eye.

A girl walked in the door, almost floating, with two dark brown pigtails bouncing behind her as she moved gracefully to the counter. She wore a long yellow singlet with red cherries printed on it and a pair of dark shorts.

She smiled brightly at nothing in particular and her auburn eyes lit up at everything around her. Kaho had never seen anybody so happy just to be.

Kaho saw the girl happily hand a piece of paper to the girl at the counter and ask about any work going. The girl at the counter sadly shook her head.

Kaho stood up, leaving the interview that she and Yukito were conducting and walked over to the girl. Yukito quickly dismissed the girl, and followed Kaho's movements with his eyes.

"I'm sorry to intrude," Kaho said as she came close to the girl. Close up there was a certain brightness about the girl, almost as though she glowed. "Are you looking for a job?"

"Yes I am," the girl said happily. She didn't look suspicious or annoyed, she just looked curious.

"I'm Kaho," she said, holding out her hand.

"Nakuru," the girl replied.

"This is all going to sound very strange and morbid," Kaho said, thinking on her feet, "but it's not going to make any sense unless I tell you the whole story.

"You see I have a heart condition, and I'm dying," Kaho said bluntly. Nakuru's bright eyes dulled for a second, as she took this in. "My husband and I have made a list of things that we want to do before we die, and right now my friend Yukito-san and I are trying to find somebody to help as complete the list."

Kaho led Nakuru to the table and indicated to Yukito who waved 'hi'.

"Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?" Kaho asked.

Nakuru nodded as she looked down at the book that the previous girl had left on the table.

"Have you read it?" Yukito asked, following her gaze.

"Sort of," Nakuru replied, looking up. "I mean, I never finished it."

"Oh," Kaho replied, her eyes saddening. She was so sure that she had found her. That this was the girl.

"Why not?" Yukito pressed.

"Well, I started it," Nakuru explained, "and I really liked it. You know, all the symbolism and the critique of Marxism. I thought it was even better than '1984'. But then Boxer died and it was the saddest moment, and I just couldn't continue after that. Every time I tried to pick up from where I left off, I started crying and I just couldn't go on. I know it sounds rather childish . . ."

"No, it's fine," Kaho said, the smile returning to her face. "It's my husbands favourite book," she explained, "and I guess he left it behind."

Kaho felt very pleased. She was right about Nakuru. And she had been right about her question. Nakuru's answer told her everything she need to know about the girl – that she was intelligent, compassionate, someone who thought for themselves, honest and charming. She fulfilled so many of the qualities that Touya prized in others.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name earlier," Yukito said, his smile much like Kaho's but touched by a hint of concern.

"Akizuki Nakuru," the girl replied, with a bright charming smile.

_'Touya would love that smile,'_ Kaho thought to herself, her emotions mixed. _'Not at first, but it would wear him down.'_

"Could you tell us a few things about yourself?" Kaho asked kindly.

Nakuru nodded, starting to feel nervous under Kaho and Yukito's gaze. This was starting to feel very much like a job interview, and she knew it technically was, but she always performed so badly at job interviews.

"Well, I'm 22," Nakuru began, talking a bit too fast. "I'm a student – this is my final year. Um . . . I was born in Japan, but I spent 10 years in England. I have a little brother – his name is Eriol, and he was born there. Actually he's still there – he got accepted into Oxford and he's doing a degree in Ancient History."

"That's very interesting," Kaho said. "My father-in-law is an Archaeologist. What are you studying?" she asked.

"I'm doing a conjoint degree. Arts and Science," Nakuru explained looking a little sheepish. "My Art's major is Philosophy and my Science major is Astronomy."

Yukito laughed at her response. "Don't you find them at odds with one another. On one side you're theorizing as to whether or not there is a sentient being, and the other is telling you that it was all just a complex series of reactions that in happening caused something else to happen and so forth."

"You'd think so," Nakuru replied laughing her self, "but there isn't as much conflict as you'd think. I think I choose them because they seemed such an ironic combination. I was tempted to conjoin Science and Theology, but I figured that was taking things a little too far."

"Absolutely not practical value in the real world," she added jokingly, "but I like it all the same."

"Do you know anything about astrophysics?" Kaho asked, seemingly at random.

"A little," Nakuru replied, feeling more and more at ease as she talked to Kaho and Yukito. "Why do you ask?"

Kaho shook her head. "Just something my husband said the other day. What about hobbies?" she added, changing the subject.

"I love to bake sweet things," Nakuru said, "but with Eriol in England I have nobody to bake for but Suppi, my cat, and it makes him extremely hyper."

Well that certainly won Yukito's heart and he pressed her for details of her best recipe.

"I'm not really sure," she said thoughtfully. "My favourite thing to make is pavlova, even though you have to wait until the weather is just right. If it's too humid you can't get the meringue to peak, and if it's too dry then it will harden too fast."

"Ohhh," Yukito replied, his eyes going wide and bright at the thought of it. His mouth was watering just listening to her.

Nakuru giggled. "That's the same look Suppi get's when I share my goodies with him," she said, laughing and smiling. Her laugh was light and melodic – she was the very essence of happiness.

"I like pulling pranks," she added, "nothing too serious of course. It's just something me and my brother used to do when we were little and when I'm feeling particularly juvenile I'll stand in the middle of the street and pretend to be looking up at something really interesting."

"How many people join you?" Kaho asked, her smile warm and assuring.

"At least twenty," Nakuru replied, "although it works better if you have more people."

"You're exactly what we've been looking for," Kaho said. "I would really love if you could help us Nakuru-san."

"I'm not really sure what you're asking me to do," she said, looking serious.

Kaho nodded. "We just need some help," Kaho said, looking at Yukito from the corner of her eye and willing him to be quiet. "Some of the things I won't be able to do because of my heart, and I know Touya won't go through with it on his own.

"I need someone to push him, and to organise things, and to nag him when I'm not around," Kaho said honestly, her tone very meaningful.

"Is it ok if I think about it?" Nakuru asked nervously. For some reason she felt ashamed that her answer right now was 'maybe' instead of an outright 'yes'.

Kaho nodded as she handed Nakuru a piece of paper with all her details on it.

"Email is best," she said as she handed it to Nakuru, "although I suppose this is more of a phone type conversation."

Nakuru nodded, looking surprisingly thoughtful as she left.

"She's perfect," Kaho said as she watched Nakuru leave.

"Sure," Yukito replied, looking very concerned.

"You like her," Kaho said, looking very happy with herself. "Just admit it; she's perfect for Touya."

"It's not too late to back out," Yukito said hopefully.

"I'm not backing out," Kaho replied seriously. "She's the one. Nakuru is exactly what Touya needs right now."

Yukito sighed. "He's never going to agree to this."

~ to be continued ~

I hope it doesn't look like I suddenly made a decision to start using honorifics - I just figured that Touya and Kaho were on such an intimate level that they'd be dropped.

Sorry to anyone who was in the midst of reading or considering reading 'Animal Farm' and is now turned off by the prospect of Boxer dying. I've always maintained that someone should have told me he was going to die before I started so I could at least prepare myself before they took him off to the glue factory. I cried for the rest of the book, but I did manage to finish it. In spite of my ruining it, I completely recommend everyone read it - for starters its actually quite short and very well written.

Please review people.


	4. Never Say Never

DISCLAIMER: I don't own CCS. How awesome would it be if I did? Right, so maybe it's just me.

Live Forever, Die Tomorrow – Never Say Never

Nakuru looked at the piece of paper she held in her hands.

She half wrote an email, but decided it was all wrong. She'd made several attempts to try and call Kaho Kinomoto and thank her for the offer, but explain that it just wasn't right for her. She had dialled the number several times, hanging up as she caught the first ring, and even penned a very eloquent letter.

But something in her just wouldn't let her say no. Try as she might she just couldn't bring herself to say no.

Something deep inside told her that saying no would be the biggest mistake of her life, and she didn't want to risk it being true.

There was just something . . .

Maybe it was the way that Kaho had smiled at her, so warm and understanding. Maybe it was the look on Yukito's face when she told him about the Pavlova. Maybe it was the mysterious book left on the table.

It was something . . .

Nakuru nodded to herself determinedly as she picked up the phone. She was going to do it; she was going to pick up the phone and call Kaho and she would decide what to say once she got there.

"Moushi Moushi?" a male voice answered after two rings.

Nakuru was taken aback. For some reason she had expected Kaho (maybe even Yukito) to answer the phone. She had completely forgotten about Kaho's husband and the fact that he might live at the same house and possibly answer the same phone.

"Uh . . . um . . . I'm calling for Kinomoto Kaho," Nakuru said nervously.

Nakuru seemed to sense the man on the other end of the phone nod his head silently which she thought was a very strange action to make to a telephone. "I'll go get her for you."

"Hello," Kaho said, picking up the phone a few moments later, "Kaho speaking."

"Um . . . hi . . ." Nakuru forced out. "It's Akizuki Nakuru."

Kaho sound pleased to hear from her. "I'm so glad you called Nakuru-san," Kaho replied. "I do hope it's good news."

"Um . . . hai . . ." Nakuru said once more, the meaning changing slightly. "At least I think it's good."

"If you're calling to accept my offer, then it is very good," Kaho said softly.

"Hai," Nakuru replied quietly because she knew that she could not possibly decline Kaho's proposal.

Kaho sounded very pleased. "Thank you Nakuru-san. Do you think you could come see me tomorrow afternoon?" she asked pleasantly. "We can talk more and you can meet Touya."

"It would be my pleasure," she replied.

~*©*~

Touya walked into the house, tired from a long day at work. He was a junior advisor in the loans department of the bank, and it was very rarely fun. Occasionally he got to give somebody a loan for something they really wanted and that usually made his day, but most of it was rather unexhilarating.

"Honey I'm home," he called jokingly as he hung up his coat and put his briefcase down.

"Hi," a girl said, jumping up from the couch as he spoke and bowing her head politely.

Touya was struck by her for a moment. The girl (which obviously was not the right word to describe her she being at least twenty) had bright amber eyes and dark brown hair, which hung loosely down to her waist. She smiled at him awkwardly, and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt as she looked at him. She was beautiful but in a subdued and innocent sort of way.

"Well you're certainly not my wife," Touya said with a slight smile as he looked at her. She blushed red and looked at the ground, and Touya couldn't help but grin. "Kinomoto Touya," he said cordially, offering her his hand.

"Akizuki Nakuru," she replied accepting his hand, his kindness relaxing her.

Her smile widened a little and he couldn't help but notice the way it seemed to light up her eyes. Her hands were soft and warm, just as he would imagine them to be. They felt small and fragile in his own hand.

"You're very polite," Nakuru began as her hand slipped from his, "considering you have no idea why I'm here. What if I was a burglar or something?"

Touya smiled back at her. "You don't look like a burglar," he replied, eying her up and down. "But more importantly – if you are a burglar you are the worst burglar I've ever met in my life."

"How so?" Nakuru asked, tilting her head to the side slightly, looking as though he had just insulted her pride. It was only the brightness of her eyes as she feigned outrage that gave her away.

"Well for starters you gave away your name," he pointed out with a teasing smile. "The police are going to come in here and say to me 'Can you give us any leads Mr. Kinomoto?' and I'll reply: 'Well of course officers. She told me her name was Akizuki Nakuru.'"

"It could be a fake name," she supplied, but he shook his head. She screwed up her nose in response, looking mildly annoyed. "Well I'm sure it's a common name."

"Perhaps," he said, putting a finger to his chin in mock thought, "but I'll also have a physical description. It will be more than enough to get you locked up for good."

"Fine. What else?" Nakuru said, poking her tongue out at him in a very immature gesture.

"Isn't that enough?" he asked, grinning back at her. He resisted the urge to poke his tongue back at her. She made him feel a bit like a child and even reminded him a little of breakfast conversations with Sakura.

"You said for starters," she explained. "That implies that you had more than one point to make."

"I suppose I can't argue with that sort logic," he replied, enjoying talking with her more than he expected. He hadn't meant to start up a conversation in this manner, but the way she looked so cute and fidgety standing there had put him in a strange mood. Something about her put him in this kind of mood.

"This is probably the key point in burglar ineptness," he told her, pretending to be very serious. "I just caught you slacking off on the job. You're supposed to be stealing my couch, not sitting on it."

"Touche," she replied, smiling back at him. "I am the worst cat burglar in the history of disorganised crime. Happy now?"

Touya was about to respond to her when his wife walked in carrying a tray of tea and biscuits.

"Touya you're just in time," Kaho said, smiling mildly as she entered the room. "I see you've met Nakuru-chan. She is here to help me with our lists."

"Our lists?" Touya asked, watching his wife carefully.

"The one's we wrote of things to do before we die," Kaho explained again. "Nakuru-chan is going to help us check them off," she added giving him an almost knowing smile.

Touya froze, his eyes narrowing and his smile slipping off his face.

"Akizuki-san could you excuse us for a moment?" Touya asked politely. "I just have to talk to my wife for a moment."

Nakuru nodded, as Touya took Kaho into the next room.

"I thought you had let all this business about me being happy go," Touya said, remembering their conversation about a week ago when Kaho said she was going to leave things be and let the universe work things out for itself. Kaho had seemed quite resolve to simply let it go only a couple of days ago.

"It's not what you think," Kaho explained, trying to calm Touya. "She's not here to help with my list; she's here to help with yours."

"I don't understand," Touya replied, looking grouchy and confused. He hated being out of the loop.

"There were a few thing on your list that looked like you might need a hand with them, and I didn't think I'd be able to help," Kaho shrugged. "Like skydiving – you can't skydive by yourself and because of my heart I can't skydive with you. Just the thought of it is hazardous to my health."

"But why not just get Yukito or Sakura to come with me?" he said, feeling rather put out by this sudden intrusion. He was annoyed that Kaho didn't seem to trust him to simply do these things on his own.

"Because unlike your best friend or little sister," Kaho explained in an even tone, "Nakuru isn't going to let you talk your way out of things. In fact she's been instructed that she's not to let you badger or beg your way out of anything."

Touya still look annoyed and untrusting. Kaho knew he was right not to believe her – she was doing exactly what he thought she was doing.

Yukito was right. Touya would never agree to what she had planned originally – that was why she had apparently resolved to give it all up. But if she could force Touya and Nakuru to be friends then she was sure she could get them together somehow.

"She seems nice don't you think?" Kaho asked. Touya eyed her suspiciously not responding. "And she's very excited about this," she added. "You're don't want to be the one to go and ruin this for her?" she asked knowingly.

Touya sighed. "I still don't trust you, but I'm willing to give things a try," he replied cautiously.

"Good," Kaho responded. "Because you promised . . . and I'm dying . . ."

~ to be continued ~

If you have read any of my other fics you'll know that I like to take a phrase or something and run it through as a continuous theme and Kaho's promise/dying is gonna be a bit like that in this one. It's going to be really significant in the end so I have to really establish it before the story gets there.

So what did you all think of Touya and Nakuru's first meeting. Probably not as tumultuous as you would expect, but I thought they were kind of cute in the burglar scene. Review if you agree. Review if you disagree. Review if you accidentally stumbled upon this fic and are now need of a lobotomy to help you forget that you were ever here. Review if you have a good reason not to review - I'm all inclusive here.


	5. Getting Started

I didn't mean to go so long without updating this one. I've been sort of frantically trying to complete one of my Pokemon fics and so I've let everything else languish a bit. But it is now completed and I spread my energies once again.

I guess now it's time for Touya to go and dig his heals in . . .

DISCLAIMER: VW does not own CCS . . . or digeredoos which she can't really spell all that good even with the aid of a spell checker.

Live Forever, Die Tomorrow – Getting Started

"Everything ok?" Nakuru asked as the couple returned, feeling very awkward all over again, her previous comfort in Touya's presence completely evaporating.

She hadn't expected Touya Kinomoto to be so young, or nearly as handsome. Kaho was definitely over thirty but Touya was about her age, maybe a little bit older. Either way they were both too young for the tragedy that had befallen them.

She felt as though she had done something wrong and she couldn't figure out what. Maybe she had been too familiar with Touya before, talking to him about burglars. Maybe she was wrong all along and she should have said no when she had the chance.

Touya looked grumpy when he returned, and she was pretty sure that Kaho had just talked him out of firing her.

"I found this list on the internet," Nakuru said awkwardly, pulling some printed pieced of paper out of her bag, trying to prove her worth to Touya. "It's a list of 101 things to do before you die . . . in case you wanted to add to what you had."

Nakuru handed the list awkwardly to Kaho, who smiled as she accepted it and briefly glanced at the list. She chuckled as her eyes landed on number 11. "Sing-a-long in a music store," she read aloud. "I can't quite imagine Touya managing that."

Nakuru smiled back. "Some of them seemed a bit silly," she replied, "like turning off your mobile for a week and learning to throw a boomerang, but . . ."

"Boomerang?" Touya interjected, his interest peaked.

"Yeah," Nakuru replied, her brown eyes shyly meeting Touya's green for a moment that did not go unnoticed by Kaho. "I wasn't even sure what it is until I remembered my friend Brian-san going on about it. He reckons he's one of like a hundred people alive today who know how to throw one."

"That's pretty rare," Touya mused quietly to himself.

Kaho's eyes lighted as she caught on. "I think we have our first item," Kaho said mysteriously. "I don't suppose you'd be able to get Brian-san to teach us how?" she asked.

"I suppose I could," Nakuru said looking confused. "He's always wanting to show off to people. He mentions it almost every time I see him. Are you sure?" she added.

Kaho nodded and looked to Touya to explain.

His forehead was narrowed in concentration, and he didn't look up again to meet Nakuru's eye. "I wanted to learn a skill that almost no one else knew."

"It's perfect," Nakuru said smiling brightly. "Are you guys free this Saturday? I should be able organise it for then if you like?"

"That would be perfect?" Kaho replied. "I don't suppose you know anybody who knows how to play the drums?"

~*©*~

"This is ridiculous," Touya muttered, glaring at his own reflection as he got himself ready Saturday morning. "I can't believe you're paying someone for this."

"Shh," Kaho said hushing him. "If it weren't for Nakuru-chan you wouldn't even have thought of a boomerang. And she said if you really suck at the boomerang, she's found a friend of Brian-san's that would also be willing to teach you the didgeridoo."

"Are you really going to wear that shirt?" Kaho asked, as she looked Touya up and down.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Touya asked indicating to a button down, short-sleeved dress shirt he was wearing over a pair of dark corduroys.

"Nothing," Kaho replied distractedly. "It just makes you look old."

"I am old," Touya replied grouchily.

"I'm old," Kaho replied rolling her eyes. "You're 23. Just throw a plain polo underneath it, it will make you look more approachable."

"I don't want to look approachable," he grumbled as he did as he was told. "I don't see why Akizuki-san has to be there," he added, sulking.

"Because she organized it and this is kind of what I'm paying her for," Kaho sighed. "Hurry up. We're supposed to meet her and Brian-san at the school in twenty minutes."

_'Brian-san,'_ Touya thought angrily to himself. Something told him he was not going to like this guy.

~*©*~

"Kaho-san! Touya-kun!" Nakuru called happily as she ran up to meet them. She encircled each of them in a hug, which Touya shrugged out of almost immediately. She was starting to get to know the couple, especially Kaho, which meant she was able to be more herself around them.

"Ne?" Nakuru asked. "Kaho-san, is Touya-kun always this grouchy in the morning?" Nakuru asked the woman. Kaho just smiled.

"It's not me it's you," Touya replied grumpily. "You are way too perky so early in the morning Akizuki-san."

Nakuru poked her tongue at him and Touya made a face at her back. "I told you to call me Nakuru, Touya," she told him, wagging a finger at him.

"Now hurry up," she said as she took each of them by the arm and dragged them along, "Brian-kun is waiting on the soccer field."

Touya made another face, unsure as to whether it was because he despised being dragged along like this, or whether it was because of the mention of the mysterious Brian. Either way he felt a certain distaste he couldn't fully account for.

A tall, tanned guy with curly blonde hair stood in the centre of the field and waved at the trio as they got closer. "This is Brian-kun," Nakuru said, introducing everybody. "These are the Kinomoto's. This is Touya-kun and Kaho-san."

"Nice to meet you guys," Brian replied in a thick Australian accent. "Nakuru-san tells me you guys want to learn the way of the boomerang." Touya and Kaho nodded.

"Now the trick of the boomerang," Brian continued, sounding like quite the expert. Touya suspected that he had rehearsed this speech in order to impress girls at parties. "Well the secret actually, is this: the hard part isn't throwing the boomerang, but making it come back."

Brian quickly tested the air and after a few moments, he threw the boomerang over his shoulder. It curved round, going at least about 30 yards and then swinging back round until Brian caught it with ease in his left hand.

"See what I mean?" he asked.

"Don't look too impressed," Nakuru teased, looking at Kaho and Touya's somewhat gaping faces. "He's been practicing that all morning."

Brian looked sheepish, as though he had just been caught out. "Well," he said changing the subject, "time for you folks to have a go."

He handed Touya a boomerang and showed him the two ways that he might want to hold it. Touya preferred what was referred to as the cradle as opposed to the pinch. Brian showed him the correct stance for throwing over arm.

Touya gave it a go, and as expected, his boomerang did not return. Nakuru laughed happily as she ran out to retrieve the forlorn boomerang. Touya made face at her.

That laugh was really grating on his nerves. _'She laughs too much,'_ Touya decided as his eyes followed Nakuru. _'And she smiles too much. And would it really kill her just look a bit angry or something every now and again?'_

Nakuru laughed again. "Touya-kun, you look like you just ate a lemon," she giggled. "You better be careful the wind doesn't change."

"Have another go," Brian suggested, interrupting Touya and Nakuru who seemed to be on the verge of a face-making contest. "You need to snap your wrist on the follow through."

Touya tried again and did as Brian told him. This time the boomerang did swing back round, but came back nowhere near where they were standing. Nakuru ran to retrieve it again, her hair trailing behind her as she ran.

"Are you going to have a go Kaho-san?" Nakuru asked the older women who watched them all with a serene smile on her face.

Kaho shook her head. "This one's Touya's. Are you going to have a go, Nakuru-chan?" Kaho asked.

"You can't be any worse that Touya-kun here," Brian joked, "no offence man," he added to Touya.

"I'd like to see you give it a go Akizuki-san," Touya said, a slight smugness in his tone.

"That sounds like a challenge," Nakuru said dangerously, jutting Touya in the ribs as she smiled slyly.

"You set the terms," Touya instructed, smiling slyly back.

"First to do three in a row?" she suggested.

"What do I get when I win?" he asked, sounding very sure of himself.

"I don't know about that," Nakuru replied, smiling back, "but when _I_ win – you have to call me Nakuru. No exceptions."

"Well then when I win you have to _stop_ call me Touya-kun," he suggested, "AND you have to bake me a cake."

"Deal," she said holding out her hand. "Deal," he repeated as he took it.

_'Oh Kami-sama,'_ Kaho thought, shaking her head.

~*©*~

"You know you guys both kind of suck at this," Brian commented almost two hours later.

Kaho nodded in agreement. "I think we'll have to call this one a draw," she said, sighing a little.

"Ne," Nakuru complained, "then who wins?"

"Nobody wins," Touya interjected, "that's why they call it a draw."

Nakuru pouted a little. She was so looking forward to winning. She hadn't heard Touya say her first name since they first came across each other in the living room, and she liked the way he said it in such a precise way.

"Alright," Nakuru said, "we'll call it draw . . . for now, but I insist on a rematch."

"Just as long as I don't have to referee," Brian joked, as he waved goodbye and headed off.

"So does that count as completed," Nakuru asked Touya and Kaho as she tossed the boomerang up and down in her hand.

"I think that counts," Kaho said. "You didn't say you wanted to master it," Kaho added to Touya. "In fact, I remember you saying it was ok if you sucked, so I guess things worked out fine."

"Yay!" Nakuru cried, her smile wide and eyes bright. "Well I better go," she added as she began to walk away. "Suppi's probably going mad without me."

"Bye Kaho-san! Bye Touya-kun!" she cried, pronouncing 'Touya-kun' very precisely.

"Yeah, yeah," Touya replied waving Nakuru off.

Kaho just smiled serenely.

~ to be continued ~

Awww, it's like he's trying to hate her. Isn't that so completely sweet?

So that's one item off his list completed. Please review. Especially if you have any idea's for totally awesome things you'd like Touya to do off the list, or your own list if you want to live vicarious through my beautiful words.


	6. For Your Eyes Only

Iie! So long since update. It's a sad mixture of writers block and not being able to write CCS and read CCS simultaneously (and not the way you think, if I read a CCS fanfic I lose all inspiration for writing anything CCS and it usually is followed by the first chapter of a new AAMR or BASR and so my desire to read CCS fanfiction is currently feeding a lovely Pokemon story instead). Apologies for the mistake in the last chapter - its strange that I suddenly decided that Touya had green eyes when I knew they were hazel. Very strange.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own CCS. Good thing too probably, if I owned it that thing would probably never be finished.

Live Forever, Die Tomorrow – For Your Eyes Only

"Does Akizuki-san really have to come over?" Touya whined as Kaho made him tidy the living room.

"Yukito's coming," Kaho replied. "What's wrong with Nakuru being here too?"

Touya shrugged, searching his brain for an excuse. He knew he didn't have a good reason.

Partly he felt obliged to complain because that's all he'd been doing really since she had come into their lives. Things about her seemed to get to him in ways that he couldn't find words for. Mostly it was the little things she did which he was sure she did for the sole purpose of annoying him.

Like how she insisted on calling him 'Touya-kun' which sounded so ridiculously childish. Or how the second she saw him she would wrap him (or Kaho depending on which of them was closest upon her entrance) in an impossible bear hug. Or how she just wouldn't let him be moody or grumpy.

"I like her," Kaho said, interrupting Touya's thoughts. "Don't you?"

"She's such a child," Touya replied, finally, sure that he had found a sufficient reason. "She's supposed to be 22, but sometimes I'm sure she acts like more of a child than Sakura."

Kaho just smiled that mysterious smile of hers. "That's what I like best about her," she replied with a soft shrug. "She brings out the child in people, especially you Touya. I think you could do with a bit more childishness in your life."

"Anyway," Kaho added, "it was Yukito's idea for her to come along. I think he's hoping she'll bring a cake."

BRRRIIIINNNGGGG!

The sound of the doorbell rung through the house bringing a close to the conversation.

"Get that Touya," Kaho commanded as she walked back to the kitchen.

Touya grumbled to himself as he walked to the door. He opened it to reveal a somewhat flustered looking Nakuru carrying what looked like two cake boxes, three Tupperware containers, a rather large stack of DVD's and four cassette tapes.

Touya couldn't seem to make up his mind as to whether he should be relieved or disappointed that she was too occupied to glomp him. He quickly shook that thought out of his head and decided that it had to be relief – what else could it be?

"You've sure got a lot with you, Akizuki-san," he said as he politely lightened her load.

"It's Nakuru," she replied, her voice somewhat muffled by her things and her pout hidden.

"What is all this?" Touya asked, ignoring the obligatory 'It's Nakuru' comment.

"Well, it's the rest of the James Bond movies," she said indicating to the stack, which was now in Touya's arms. "I checked with Kaho-san, and you didn't even have half of them in your collection."

"And what about these?" Touya asked, indicating to the cassette tapes. "What am I supposed to do with cassette tapes?"

"Listen to them," she replied like it was the most obvious thing . . . because it was. "They're books on tape – that one's narrated by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie," she said, indicating to the cassette with her head.

"And the Tupperware?" he continued, moving slowly down her stack.

"Cookies," she replied. "And fudge. And rocky road. I wasn't sure what every one wanted."

"And the boxes?"

"Well I made a Pavlova because I suspect that Yukito's been fanticising about it since our first meeting," she explained plainly. "But when I checked the weather report yesterday it said it was going to be high humidity, so I made a back up cake just in case, but then it was actually quite tepid so the Pavlova worked out perfectly, but then I had the spare cake and I was like, well what am I going to do with a spare cake? Ok, I may have overdone things a little."

"Only a little," he replied, her smile infecting his. "I'm not even sure how you're still standing after that sentence."

Nakura smiled sheepishly and looked away. "What should I do with these?" she asked, referring to the cakes, slices and cookies.

"Kaho will know," Touya replied, leading the way to the kitchen where Kaho was preparing some healthier alternatives to Nakuru's sugar rush.

"I didn't mean to bring so much," Nakuru said, still looking sheepish. "I just love making sweet things and once I started I couldn't quite stop."

"No complaints from me," Touya said reassuringly as he walked backwards into the kitchen door and held it open. "And I know Yukito won't be complaining. He'll probably eat the whole Pavlova himself."

"Nakuru-chan," Kaho said happily as Nakuru and Touya entered the room. "What is all this?"

"Don't ask," Touya replied as he placed his load on the table. Nakuru pulled a face at him as he snuck his hand into one of the containers and pulled out a cookie. He took a triumphant bite in return and smiled. "Mint chocolate chip," he said happily. "My favourite."

"It was that or chocolate macaroons," Nakuru shrugged, blushing for reasons she couldn't understand, "but I ran out of coconut."

She quickly placed her pile next to Touya's, emptying her arms so she could now wrap Kaho in a cheerful hug. Kaho returned it, putting her utensils down for a moment.

"What are you making?" Nakuru questioned as she let Kaho go.

"Caramel popcorn," Kaho replied as she returned to stirring the pot. "And wedges. I figured we'd need to keep our strength up."

"Sweet!" Touya cried, distracting the two ladies from the task at hand. He looked embarrassed when he realised their eyes were upon him and held a DVD in front of them. Probably because the exclamation was so unlike him. "Akizuki-san has 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'."

"But that movie was terrible," Yukito interjected, walking into the kitchen. He waved quickly at Nakuru and Kaho before continuing. "George Lazenby was the worst Bond EVER!" Yukito cried. "Even worse that Peter Sellers."

"Yeah, but Joanna Lumley!" Touya explained excitedly. "And Peter Sellers doesn't really count. Plus Lazenby wasn't that bad – he just gets a lot of flack for being the first post-Connery Bond."

"Where'd you get all these?" Touya asked, turning to Nakuru, still holding the prized Bond flick almost reverently in his hands.

"My brother Eriol is like crazy obsessive about Bond," Nakuru explained. "He's got all the books too, but I'm not sure there's much fun in a reading marathon."

"Well I'm almost done here if you want to start setting things up," Kaho suggested, briefly catching Yukito's eye as she spoke. Touya nodded and collected the pile of DVD's to take back to the living room.

"What should I do with these?" Nakuru asked, indicating her various goodies still boxed on the table.

"Just take the cookies for now," Kaho replied, "I'll sort the rest. Do you mind grabbing those chips too?"

"Do you need any help in here?" Yukito asked, returning her gaze from before. Kaho nodded as Nakuru left the room leaving them alone as Kaho intended.

"Another cookie Touya-kun?" Nakuru asked as she opened the plastic container and placed it on the small table in the middle of the room.

Touya scowled, but nodded his head as he took another cookie. Mint chocolate chip cookies were his weakness. She just laughed as he sulkily chewed on his favourite treat, which just made him sulk even more.

He couldn't really explain why Nakuru's incessant cheerfulness annoyed him so much. Occasionally he wondered what she would look like sad but decided it was too farfetched an idea to even contemplate. He suspected that he wouldn't even recognise her without a smile.

"What movie should we start with?" Nakuru asked as she emptied the chips into bowls and arranged the various foods over the coffee table.

Touya shrugged as he watched her movements, as though trying to decipher them. She moved with a strange grace no matter what she was doing. She almost seemed to flit like a bumblebee from item to item as she moved around.

"On Her Majesty's Secret Service?" she suggested with a smile as she turned to face him.

He started for a moment, sure she had noticed his stares but as she just tilted her head in curiosity he knew he was safe. He shook his head. "I figured we'd just go through them in order."

"Really?" Nakuru asked, the pout on her face suggesting that she didn't think it was a good idea. "I mean, there are like twenty-four DVD's here, and you're just going to get bored faster if you're watching the same actor over and over again."

"Don't you think we should have some kind of order to keep track of them?" Touya suggested, understanding her point to a degree. "How about alphabetical – that way we get a range but also have some set method?"

Nakuru just shrugged. "Can't we just have a watched pile and a not watched pile?" she asked. "Really Touya-kun, I don't see why you have to have everything so organised. Just close your eyes and pick one at random."

"There's no such thing as random," Touya replied poutily. "Even a random number generator is only pseudo random formed from an algorithm based on small trains of probability."

"Really?" Nakura asked, genuinely interested in what he was saying and completely forgetting the previous topic of conversation. "I never knew that."

"Yeah . . . well," Touya said, feeling awkward. He changed the subject, trying to escape her inquisitive gaze. "I guess we'll just start with 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' and work our way from there."

~*©*~

Kaho's eyes flitted across the room from where she sat in her favourite chair. She hadn't been watching the movies for quite some time, choosing instead to observe her younger companions.

She had never been much of a fan of a James Bond, and watching the three of them engrossed in the film made her acutely aware of the age gap between her and them.

Touya lay sprawled on the couch with Nakuru and Yukito sitting on the ground, Yukito at Touya's feet and Nakuru near his chest. The bowl of caramel popcorn sat on Nakuru's lap as she had practically claimed it as her own. She watched the movie intently throwing pieces of popcorn into her mouth without a thought. Yukito seemed to be thoroughly absorbed in a piece of Nakuru's Pavlova, completely oblivious to anything else around him.

Like Nakuru, Touya was engrossed in the movie. 'From Russia with Love' was one of his favourites, and there really was no better Bond than Sean Connory himself. Nakuru and the bowl of popcorn were conveniently placed at arms distance, so every so often he would reach for a handful. When she noticed, Nakuru would pull it out of his reach, and when she didn't their hands would brush against one another's as they reached for it at the exact same moment.

It was this moment that Kaho was watching as both her husband's and Nakuru's cheeks turned faintly red. There was definitely something there; an immediate attraction, but neither would admit to it. Touya denied it fervently, passionately revealing his disdain for all things Nakuru.

_'Me thinks the boy does protest too much,'_ Kaho thought to herself with a soft, knowing smile.

_'She compliments him,'_ she thought to herself as she watched Nakuru teasingly pull the popcorn out of Touya's reach once again. He tugged on her hair forcing her to give in, his eyes never once leaving the film until he had his popcorn; only then did his gaze momentarily linger on Nakuru.

Kaho wondered for a moment what he was thinking, but she knew that even Touya's thoughts weren't ready to recognise what was really happening here. She had never seen him become so comfortable with a person so quickly; even Yukito had commented on how easy the two were together.

Part of it was probably Nakuru's personality – she was such a cheerful person that she put almost anybody at ease with in seconds – but she was sure there was something else. The thought occurred to her as it had many a time before – that Nakuru was just what Touya needed.

Kaho sighed softly to herself. She could never quite make up her mind how she felt about Nakuru. Under ordinary circumstances she and Nakuru would have become fast friends without reservation. But instead Nakuru was potentially the other woman and as much as Kaho enjoyed her company and as much as she wanted Touya to be happy once she was gone, seeing the two of them interact made her jealous.

So instead she comforted herself in semantics – you can only be jealous of something that is already yours. Jealousy could be a comforting feeling if you allowed it to remind you that you already had his heart. It was when she became envious of Nakuru that she really had to start worrying.

Or maybe that was when she was supposed to be happy, because she knew that despite everything else Nakuru was more than capable of making Touya happy, and if Touya was happy then she could be happy. She was pretty sure that was how it was supposed to work.

_'I'm dying . . .'_ she reminded herself sadly. _'And this is my dying wish.'_

~ to be continued ~

So that's another item on Touya's list on its way to being completed. I didn't even realize until I wrote this chapter how many Bond movies there were - it's something like 24 including 'Casino Royale'.

Hope you liked the chapter.


	7. Sleeping Beauty

xx Story so far . . .  
Kinomoto Kaho, wife of Kinomoto Touya, has been diagnosed with an incurable heart condition and given less than a years prognosis by her pessimistic doctors. She encourages Touya to make a list of 'things to do before I die' and makes her own list of just one desire: to see Touya happy. He out right refuses, and in an underhanded move, Kaho starts searching for Touya's future wife with the help of Yukito. They come across Nakuru who believes she is helping Touya complete his list without any knowledge of Kaho's secret desire.

* * *

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow." ~ James Dean

Disclaimer: I do not own CCS.

Live Forever, Die Tomorrow - Sleeping Beauty

Touya yawned as the credits rolled for 'The World is Not Enough' which was not one of his favourite Bond movies (although he couldn't deny that the name 'Christmas Jones' was pure genius). It was almost three in the morning and they had just finished their eighth movie of the evening, starting, as Nakuru had demanded, with the gorgeous Joanna Lumley and 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'.

He was grateful that he had managed convince Nakuru that Casino Royale (the 1963 spoof) was not a real Bond movie, thus leaving only 15 movies to watch rather than 16.

He turned his head towards the girl in question as she murmured something incomprehensible that sounded suspiciously like his name. She was curled up at the other end of the couch with her head resting gently on her arms. She looked small and fragile and unbelievably peaceful in her sleep.

"Akizuki-san," he asked softly as he gently nudged her foot with his own, torn between the desire to simply stay there watching her sleep and his own conflicting promise. "Nakuru."

"I heard that," Yukito said knowingly from where he sat in Kaho's comfy chair with his arms crossed over his chest. He forced one of his eyes open, but only so he could send Touya a knowing look.

"She asked me to wake her when the movie finished so she could pick the next one," Touya protested weakly. Even though Yukito didn't say it, Touya knew that he was thinking it. He blushed rather than acknowledge the thought aloud, which in turn led to another knowing look from Yukito.

"Let her sleep," Yukito told him sleepily, forcing his other eye open and yawning loudly. "I think it's probably time for a break anyway."

"I suppose . . ." Touya replied sulkily, his gaze returning to Nakuru who seemed blissfully unaware of any attempts to wake her.

Touya couldn't really explain what it was about Yukito preventing him from waking her that was annoying him so much. It wasn't like he disagreed with Yukito about the prospect of a break; in fact, it was only Nakuru's insistence that she be woken to pick the next one that stopped him from suggesting it himself. And it wasn't that he just spitefully wanted to wake her from her slumber regardless of whether there was a movie to watch or not.

"I'm happy to take the couch," Yukito continued, interrupting Touya's train of thought. He was well aware that none of them were awake enough drive anywhere at this time of night. "You need to get Nakuru-chan to the spare room."

"And how do you intend for me to get her there without waking her?" Touya suggested, his eyes briefly moving to Yukito, and then almost protectively landing on Nakuru's delicate unconscious form again. None of this went unnoticed by Yukito.

"We'll carry her," the white haired boy replied smugly, speaking as though this was exactly what he had planned from the beginning. Knowing Yukito as he did, something made Touya suspect that it was, although he had no idea what Yukito had to gain by this.

"And by 'we'," Yukito added, forcing himself out of a very comfortable position, "I mean you carry her and I open the door and stuff. She doesn't look that heavy, especially for someone who did gymnastics in high school."

"You know that was only to impress Yoko," Touya replied, wishing that Yukito would not insist on bringing up sordid details of his past almost constantly. It was awful having a best friend who knew everything there was to know about you, particularly when said best friend did not know the meaning of the word discretion.

"I'm sure Nakuru would be impressed," Yukito muttered quietly, luckily unheard by Touya who would surely wake the whole neighbourhood with his screams if he had heard the comment.

"I was just commenting on the fact that you have better upper body strength than most," he said innocently, smiling at his friend and adjusting his glasses so they caught the light. "No need to get so grouchy, To-ya."

Touya choose to make no comment, pushing himself off the couch in one fluid movement. He nestled one arm under her legs and the other around her back, then gently lifted her off the couch and into his arms.

Nakuru let out another soft murmur in her sleep as she curled into his chest. Touya's breath caught in his throat, his chest tightened and his pulse quickened beyond his control. His body responded to being near to her in a way he hadn't quite been prepared for. She was making him feel like some hormonally charged teenager – a stage in his life he had only recently departed from if we're perfectly honest.

He hadn't anticipated that being so close to Nakuru would be so alluring. Her scent was intoxicating and a warmth seemed to spread throughout him from the places where their bodies touched.

He hadn't expected holding Nakuru to make him feel so content. Her weight in his arms was comfortable; in fact, it almost felt right. The restless nagging in the back of his mind seemed to ease in her presence. There was something comfortingly right about holding her.

He walked slowly towards the bedroom, savouring the feeling and blocking any other thoughts for the moment. He would think of nothing but the girl in his arms, lest the moment be lost.

But all too soon he was in the bedroom, carefully laying her down on the bed. He stepped back, letting out a soft, almost dreamy sigh as he observed her sleeping figure for a few moments longer.

"She's really something, isn't she?" the other figure in the room asked, his voice almost sad as he noticed Touya's enraptured smile.

Touya just replied with a soft 'hmm' still caught in his own little reverie.

Yukito hadn't expected his friend to fall so fast, but he guessed it just showed that Kaho had been right about Nakuru. Nakuru was perfect for Touya; perhaps even more than Kaho realised.

He didn't know what to say. He knew that with one word he could break the spell that she held over him, but something told him it wasn't the right thing to do. If all this were happening a year from now Yukito wouldn't even dream of ruining the moment like this, but right now it seemed wrong regardless of what move he made.

He had complied with Kaho's wishes thus far; feeling deeply conflicted in spite of outward appearances. It was impossible to argue with a dying woman, especially when she seemed to feel so strongly about the matter at hand. Kaho refused to stand in the way of Touya's future happiness, and any qualms raised against her were put under the rather deceptive category of 'timing'.

Instead Touya was the first to speak, his voice low and reverent when he finally found the words. "I don't know what it is about her . . ." he whispered, trailing off as the thought was lost to him. He shook his head as if to shake whatever remained of it away.

"She's like a whole other person when she sleeps," he laughed, his voice becoming less reverent, but still whispering to avoid waking her. "She's a bit like a coiled spring or a 'jack-in-the-box'. I keep waiting for her to pop up and jump into my arms."

Touya's words seemed to hang in the air. He blushed as he realised how it had come out, and just like that the spell was broken and Touya was finally able to look away from her sleeping form.

He turned his back on her, looking at Yukito now, who stood in the doorway from where he had been observing Touya. The white haired boy seemed to be giving an appraising stare that made him feel very uncomfortable.

"I guess you'll be needing some blankets," Touya said, trying desperately to change the subject and turn Yukito's attention away from himself. "And a pillow."

He went to the cupboard where he knew there was some spare linen and got the necessary items. Even with his back turned he could feel Yukito's eyes disconcertingly analyzing his every move.

_'I didn't do anything,'_ he reasoned with himself. _'I have no reason to feel guilty.'_

_'Then why do I feel so rotten?'_

~*©*~

Touya Kinomoto had always been a light sleeper. He supposed it came from always looking out for Sakura – there was no way _any_ gaki (particularly Chinese ones with chestnut hair and amber brown eyes) was getting by on his watch. This usual habit was not helped by the fact that sleep did not come easy to Touya that night.

His mind would not stop. Every time he was sure he was asleep, his mind would jolt him awake by the sight of sparkling russet eyes. And then he felt a pang of guilt in the knowledge that he shouldn't be thinking about those eyes, but he was finding it impossible not to think about them.

Every time he tried to turn his mind to something else, he would keep coming back to them - those eyes haunting him on the verge of consciousness. But occasionally his mind would drift, to creamy porcelain skin, to rose-tinted lips and silky mahogany locks. He felt as though her scent was clinging to him, making it harder for him to bid away these unsolicited thoughts.

That's not to say that these thoughts were unpleasant. In fact, that was probably the worst thing about them – the pleasantly warm feeling that accompanied them was . . . unpleasantly pleasant. It was unsettling.

The strangest thoughts would occur to him – Shakespeare he suspected only from their structure. Lovely, romantic poetic thoughts that seemed to compliment his other thoughts in an unpleasantly pleasant way.

_. . . . Spurn me, strike me,  
Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,  
Unworthy as I am, to follow you . . ._

And as much as he wished that his thoughts would simply desist, he could not get the strange, cheerful, innocent woman out of his head. Things that were meaningless before now seemed to trigger his thoughts back to her. Even his favourite cookie was now tainted with memories of her.

No, tainted wasn't the right word. Tainted made it sound dirty and sordid and it wasn't, at least not the way Touya saw it. What it was . . . was an invasion. She was forcing her way into his head, but he would not surrender.

_'That decides it,'_ Touya thought determinedly to himself as the hours crept towards morning. He had to get rid of her.

Even with his resolution, what Touya drifted towards could not truly be described as sleep in the ordinary sense of the word. It didn't take much to wake him from his apparent slumber, and it wasn't too long before a loud CRASH caused him to stir.

He checked the clock beside him as he crept out of bed at about 7:45am. Kaho was sound asleep – she had always been a heavy sleeper and it was rare for her to wake up before 8 o'clock unless it was completely necessary.

The noise was coming from the kitchen. Being careful not to wake his wife in the process, Touya slowly began to creep towards the kitchen, readying himself in a jujutsu attack position. He felt relatively secure in his ability to at least seriously injure any intruder.

He could hear the clumsy movements around the kitchen, and briefly wondered what there was in the kitchen to steal. Maybe the intruder was looking for something in particular, but all he could think was that some inexperienced thief was trying to steal his coffee grinder – it was a burr grinder and therefore hard to come by outside of commercial coffee ventures.

After mentally locating the intruder's position, Touya attacked.

"Touya!" the intruder gasped, jumping just outside of Touya's reach.

"What the hell, Nakuru?!" he exclaimed, glaring the petite student.

Nakuru smiled at him broadly. "You called me Nakuru," she said simply, her eyes shining warmly.

"It doesn't count," he replied sulkily, turning his head away with a blush. "What on earth were you doing in here?" he asked, changing the subject. "I thought you were trying to rob the place."

Nakuru giggled. "Is this going to be a long running joke with us?" Touya didn't seem to be amused. She rolled her eyes, and decided it was best to explain herself to Touya. "I wanted to make breakfast for everyone, but I can't reach the skillet," she said as she walked over to the cupboard and pointed out the item she desired.

In spite of himself, Touya could not resist the teasing smile that pulled on his lips. He leaned over her shoulder, and with very little effort, grabbed the skillet and deposited it in her hands. He easily towered over her by almost a foot.

"Anything else?" he asked as she turned around to face him, that lovely warm smile resting on her lips.

She shook her head. "Arigatou, Touya-kun," she told him softly. "Go back to bed. I'll come wake you when I'm done."

"I'm up now," Touya insisted with a smirk when he saw her sheepish smile. "You might as well let me help you."

"Fine," she acquiesced, "but you have to do exactly what I tell you to do, Kinomoto Touya, with no exceptions."

"Fine," he repeated, wrapping a plain blue apron around his waist. "Your wish is my command, Akizuki Nakuru."

"Exactly."

~ to be continued ~

Hope you all enjoyed that, and sorry for leaving it hanging so long. I'm trying to force myself to finish this one, mostly because I want to start another TxN and it would just look bad doing so without finishing this one first.

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**Notes:**

The Shakespeare quote comes from 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' and has no real relevance, other than my thinking that the relationship between Touya and Nakuru has some similarities to that between Demetrius and Helena

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**Next chapter: No Practical Purpose**


	8. No Practical Purpose

xx Story so far . . .  
Kinomoto Kaho, wife of Kinomoto Touya, has been diagnosed with an incurable heart condition and given less than a years prognosis by her pessimistic doctors. She encourages Touya to make a list of 'things to do before I die' and makes her own list of just one desire: to see Touya happy. He out right refuses, and in an underhanded move, Kaho starts searching for Touya's future wife and finds Nakuru who she brings into their lives. There is an immediate attraction (that is immediately buried), but Touya finds himself getting closer to this strange intrusion . . .

* * *

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow." ~ James Dean

Disclaimer: I do not own CCS.

Live Forever, Die Tomorrow - No Practical Purpose

Two weeks later, Nakuru was dragging Touya through the Tokyo University campus, pointing out all her favourite hangouts and various other notable facts. She was so excited. It reminded her of parents night when she was in primary school in England, and dragging her parents around the class room to show them the most mundane things.

She anxiously hoped that he liked it. The university was important to her, and – as guilty as it made her feel to admit it – so was Touya.

She liked him, and it had only taken her four weeks to admit that. She liked him more than she should. He was a married man, and more importantly, he was married to Kaho, a woman who she considered a close friend.

Thus the guilt that hit her every time she so much as looked at him. It just wasn't right to have these feelings for a dying woman's husband.

But she couldn't keep herself away from him. Sure she could walk away from the tenuous friendship they had formed, along with Kaho and Yukito, but the thought of it made her ache. She knew he was off-limits, but that didn't mean they couldn't be friends, right?

Regardless, she just wasn't ready yet to give him up.

So for the time being, she would do as Kaho had instructed her, and she would help Touya work through his list, learning a little more about the man she had come to care for with every item that was completed.

"When are you ever going to show me that list of yours?" Nakuru asked suddenly, turning on Touya with a stern look. She pouted when he laughed at her expression, telling her that it was wrong for her to look so sullen.

"Toou-yaaa," she whined, pouting playfully at him. She thrust her lip out dramatically, and opened her eyes widely, knowing he wasn't able to resist that particular look – she suspected that Touya's little sister made good use of it, seeing as Kaho was far too kind to use it against him.

Touya grunted with frustration as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

"You carry this around with you?" she asked, a smirk resting on her lips.

"Just read the damn thing and stop pestering me, Akizuki-san," he replied, blushing at her teasing. He wasn't really sure what had compelled him to bring his list with him today, but something told him he wouldn't regret it.

She did as she was told, commenting on each individually.

"My god, Touya, I never would have picked you as the rock star type. I would have picked you more of a piano type. You've got the fingers for it," she told him after the first.

"Uh, thanks," he offered awkwardly.

"No, seriously. I think you would be really good at piano. I've got quite a talent for matching people to instruments, you know."

He just rolled his eyes, but he would keep her suggestion in mind.

"Oh, Touya-kun, that's so sweet," she cooed as she read his intentions towards Sakura. "I never guessed you were such a softie. If I ever meet your sister, I'm going to tell her straight away what a sweetheart you really are, and that you secretly like this 'Syaoran' guy, whoever he is."

"Nakuru," he groaned, a warning tone to his voice. He always seemed to forget himself when she got him flustered like this, and she just smiled sweetly at his lapse.

"Ah, so that's why we're here today," she commented, coming to his point about wanting to continue his studies. "But why astrophysics?" she asked, giving him a cute, curious look.

Touya shrugged in response. "I guess all that molecular physical stuff always sort of interested me. In the end, its where we all came from."

"That's very philosophical of you to say so," she replied. "Did you ever think of going that direction?"

He shook his head. "I've always been more into science than the humanities. I like solid facts, not unsubstantiated theories."

Nakuru laughed, her voice trilling like the sound of bells. "Guess somebody is a number snob. I bet you did calculus in high school and looked down on those feeble little statisticians," she teased, nudging her shoulder.

"Of course," he responded, her smile and enthusiasm catching on. "We can't let those _impure_ mathematicians get too big for their boots," he added with a tone of aristocracy in his voice that made her giggle.

"You're so mean, Tou-kun," she whined, wrapping her arm around his as she began dragging him along once again. "And I don't think there's nearly enough on your list."

"Oh really?" he asked with a bemused smirk. "And what exactly would be on your list?" he asked moodily, trying to hide the fact that he was at least mildly interested in what her answer would be.

"Everything," she replied without even giving the question a moments thought. She smiled broadly as she added, "I wouldn't want to leave anything out."

"Name ten," he suggested, narrowing the scope of her criteria.

Nakuru looked genuinely thoughtful for a moment before replying enthusiastically.

"I'd start by spending a year in Antarctica," she began, smiling almost dreamily. "And then . . . then I'd want to bowl a perfect game. I'd want to leave behind a million dollars to be dispersed between various charities of my choice – really random ones too, like a charity for felines with narcolepsy.

"I'd want to be a part of some huge cause," she continued, her pace slowing. Touya slowed down to match her, watching her with intrigue. "Just to be a part of a massive group of people all brought together for the same thing. I'd wanted to swim with something really big like a shark or a whale or like a really big turtle – doesn't really matter which as long as it didn't kill me. I'd want to go to Madagascar and see and Aye-aye up close – I'll probably scream in its face but I bet it gets that a lot."

She laughed at the thought, her absolute genuineness making something pull in his chest. "I want to build a house with my bare hands," she suggested, "although obviously I'll need some sort of help. I want to watch the sun set in ten different time zones. I want to say 'I love you' and mean it more than I've ever met anything in my life.

"And I want to commit one truly selfless act," she finished, her voice quietly confident.

"There's no such thing as a selfless act," Touya told her, his own voice quiet. "Humans are prone to self-interest."

She laughed at his use of the word 'human', immediately teasing him for talking about people like they were a wholly separate species from him. "There are selfless acts," she told him, poking the scowling Touya in the arm to emphasise her point. "What is love if not the very contemplation of selflessness?"

"Stop talking like a philosopher and start thinking like a scientist," Touya commanded, making a face at her.

Nakuru immediately returned it by poking out her tongue at him. "Science can't explain love," she said simply, her tone almost reverent, "but it can't explain it away."

* * *

Touya sat quietly in the moonlight glancing at his list with a look of consternation. Nakuru's words were ringing in his head, repeating her desire to commit one selfless act.

He was struck by the nobility of her statement and the passion in her defence: what is love if no the very contemplation of selflessness?

Had he been selfless? he couldn't help but wonder. He had made sacrifices for their love, but somehow it didn't seem the same. He had given up his dream of going to medical school and become a banker instead because that was what was needed at the time. It was never intended to be a permanent thing, and while it was a sacrifice, Touya would hardly call it selfless.

He had lost his fair share of friends along the way. Some had turned their backs on him, disapproving of him marrying the teacher that had broken his heart (even his own father had felt that way at first), while others he had simply lost touch with as they disappeared off to college, or across the world to follow their dreams. He had a few close friends and the fact that they remained said a lot about the quality of those left. Perhaps that too was a sacrifice, but once again, was it selfless?

Kaho had never asked him anything in their marriage. He had always pushed. He had always demanded. Kaho had always been the perfect doting wife, and in their years together, she had only asked him one thing.

_"Touya, when I'm gone, I want you to be happy . . . with her . . ."_

"Hey," Kaho's voice rang softly as she stepped outside, handing him a warm cup of tea as she settled himself next to him. "How was today?"

"It was good," Touya replied with a shrug. "Akizuki-san showed me around, and I had a chat with people in a few of the departments I was interested in."

Kaho nodded, urging him on non-verbally. "Which ones?" she asked when no response was forthcoming.

"I . . . uh . . . I checked out the school of Health Science and some of the other Science departments," he admitted, feeling somewhat guilty about his revelation. He knew there was something wrong when was seriously considering keeping things from his wife.

"Are you going to enrol next semester?" she asked. He nodded.

They sat together in silence for a few moments, both seemingly lost in their thoughts, until Touya suddenly spoke up.

"I'll do it," he said quietly, his eyes trained straight ahead on some distant object.

"Do what?" Kaho asked, giving him a concerned glance.

"I'll . . . I'll do what you ask," he replied, still not glancing her way. "I'll find someone . . . but not now. I promise that I will find someone to make me happy, and I promise I'm not just saying that by way of appeasing you.

"I do mean it, Kaho," he told her, finally facing her so she could read the sincerity in her gaze. "But I can't do it now, not while the time we have left together is limited."

"I understand, Touya, but what if-?"

"No," he answered before she could finish, cutting her off mid-question. "Aren't you the one who's always on about destiny? If it's meant to be, then she can wait."

Kaho gave him a long glance, as though she was studying him for some clue to a mystery. "And if you've already found her?" she finally asked, her eyes watching for the slightest change in his countenance.

And there it was – an almost unperceivable twitch at the corner of his lips, and a clouding of his dark eyes for the briefest instant. It was what she had been hoping and dreading for since the start. And then his answer came as though he already had her image locked in his mind. Short and simple, and straight to the point.

"Then I'm sure she'll wait."

~ to be continued ~

As you can probably tell, the main purpose of this chapter was to show how different Nakuru and Kaho's reactions to Touya's list were, and maybe do some future foreshadowing . . . Sorry about the long wait for an update. The fact that this was close to expiration in my document manager tells me I've intended to update this story for at least two months, and I was actually intending to put the next chapter up when I found this. I have currently reached a bit of a block on this story, but I will try my best to get through it seeing as I've already come up with a really good ending for it, which I intend to reach at some point.

Review.

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**Notes:**

Yes I do realize that according to canon (I think it's anime rather than manga, but don't hold me to that) Touya already knows how to play piano, but for the purpose of this story he doesn't. Just a plot device, so of no real relevance.

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**Next chapter: Moving Forward**


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